The Housechick Blog

Today we explore Rincon Trails, in Vail.

Rincon Trails is located off of Camino Loma Alta and Colossal Cave Roads, in Vail, near Rancho del Lago.  Driving through this community today, I see there’s certainly a wide variety of homes for sale in Rincon Trails, both resale and new construction.

Rincon Trails is about 500 lots, and has three different builders: Sombra Homes, Pulte, and Standard Pacific.  All three of these builders are still producing new homes, but there are some nice resale homes here too, that already have the pools and landscaping installed.  If you’re trying to get into the Vail school district before school starts, don’t forget to check out the resale homes when you’re out there looking at the new construction.

Prices vary widely between builders, and between new and resale homes, but the range of prices, as of today, runs between $275,000 and about $500,000.

One of my favorite things about Rincon Trails is the typical lot size.  I’d say the average lot is about a third of an acre, give or take a couple hundred square feet.  This means that there is nice breathing room between the houses; the homes in Rincon Trails aren’t piled up on top of each other like some of the other new home communities in the area. 

Each builder has a unique style.  The Pulte homes have that Pulte look.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Pulte, they’ve an excellent reputation as a builder and they have some fabulous floor plans.  Pulte homes just always have arches.  Arched shutters.  Arched windows.  Nice front porches, usually, and the third car garage that’s separate from the main garage.   I can almost always tell when it is a Pulte home.  Sombra does a very nice, clean Santa Fe style, and that’s a big compliment.  I see a LOT of bad Santa Fe style around here.  Standard Pacific has more 2 story plans than the other builders, and does Southwestern, but with wrought iron touches that look Mediterranean to me.

I see a lot of commercial lots for sale, or for lease, which means that the commercial development is on its way.  There’s no big grocery store or shopping in the area yet, but there are rumors of a big mall coming in near the freeway, and a grocery store coming soon.

It’s really amazing to drive through the Vail area.  Between Rincon Trails, Rancho del Lago, Coyote Creek, and the other smaller subdivisions, Vail has really taken off in the past couple of years.  As Tucson pushes out even more towards the Southeast, this area will begin to boom as the commercial and retail development catch up with the residential developers. 

And that’s Rincon Trails!  If you’re interested in the Vail area, I’m happy to chat with you about that.  Send me an email, and let’s talk.

It’s a beautiful night in Tucson. 

This is one of those nights where you sit outside, enjoy a cool drink, and wait for the stars to slowly open their eyes.

Clear nights and a full moon. 

Nights like this are why I love this city.

This is what summer in Tucson is all about.  Long evenings on the patio, looking for satellites, watching the moon rise and make a slow trek across the night sky. 

Almost makes you want to grab a pillow and blanket and spend the night in the hammock out back. 

Sometimes, it takes a little vision to see beyond what is there and see what is possible.

It’s a skill that may take some time to develop, but is priceless for a home buyer.

I was showing houses to a first time buyer this weekend.  They can’t afford their ideal house on their current budget.  We’re looking for something with a good floorplan, nice yard, in the right school district, that can accommodate their family over the next 10 years.  The house we’ll find will probably need updating, some new flooring, paint, and possibly cabinetry as well. 

What is fantastic about these buyers: even though this is the first home they will ever buy, they see immediately the difference between what is there now and what is possible.  Sure, those 80’s laminated cabinets aren’t attractive, but look how big the kitchen is!  True, that olive green shag carpet has seen better days, but I bet we can get a flooring allowance from the Seller. 

Do you have the vision to be a first time home buyer in this market? With average home prices in Tucson in the high $200s, many first time home buyers don’t have the resources to buy their ideal house as their first house.

Sometimes, a little elbow grease and a whole lot of paint can turn an ugly house with good bones into something lovely and enjoyable.  In fact, it can be cheaper to put money into changing a lower priced home, than to try and reach into the upper price ranges to have everything already perfectly done to your tastes.  Plus, remodeling usually adds value to your home.

 If you want to talk about buying your first home, or your fourth or fifth home, give me a call.  I’ll be making some progress on finishing this bathroom remodel over the weekend, but I’m happy to stop and chat.

Just let the phone ring a couple of times, it’s hard to hear through these stylish ear muffs.

Let’s visit the West side of Tucson and take a look at Saguaro Cliffs.

Saguaro Cliffs started out as a land development in late 2004: a developer bought the parcel, subdivided it into lots, and created all the roads, brought utilities to the lot lines, and set it all up to be sold as parcels of ready-to-build land.

There are 61 lots total, ranging from 1.5 acres to roughly 3 acres, although there are two owners in the subdivision that have extraordinary lots, at 4.6 and 6 acres, respectively.  Utilities are underground, and have been brought to the lot lines.  Septic systems are required, as there is no city sewer in the area.

Saguaro Cliffs is a gated community, but at this point, the gates are only closed on Sundays since there is ongoing development in the subdivision.

It is also a custom home community, where each lot owner gets to hire their own builder to create their dream house, and there is no restriction on when the house must be built.  There are community rules that govern, among other things: building height, colors used, and size of the house and accessory structures.  Minimum house size is 2400 square feet.  As of today, lots are priced between $250k and $350k, and houses range from $850k to $1.2 million.

Saguaro Cliffs is a very striking community, with a good deal of open space between houses.  Most lots either have city views or mountain views, and both are spectacular.  The association has kept a natural feel to the landscape along the roads, and it feels like a nice, quite, remote community.

I’d place this neighborhood about 10 minutes from the freeway, and maybe 15 minutes from downtown. 

It is quite a spectacular place, covered in saguaro, palo verde, jojoba, and mesquite trees.

For more specific information, send me an email and let’s discuss!

At a loss for what to do over the long Memorial Day weekend?  Head to Tombstone for Wyatt Earp Days 2007! 

Along with a carnival for the kids, there are a variety of re-enactments, gunfight skit and costume competitions, raffles, a chili cook-off, Wyatt Earp look-alike competitions, and the ever popular souvenir t-shirts.

As an introduction to actual life in Tombstone, the town too tough to die: rules for the gunfight skit include not pointing or waving weapons at the crowd, and participants must have all weapons and ammunition inspected prior to the event, so that no live rounds are “in play” during the re-enactments. 

Events are free to watch, and will take place on historic Allen Street, in Tombstone, Arizona, 10am-4pm, through May 28th.  Proceeds benefit the Tombstone Lions and support their charitable activities.  Tombstone is about an hour’s drive from Tucson.

It’s a sad day for Tucson.  The popular Bistro Zin is closing their doors.

The Zin was one of my favorite upscale places, very cool and swanky, yet casual enough to be comfortable.  I will miss the fabulous deserts and the wine flights.  The service was always impeccable.

Fox Restaurants, the owner of Bistro Zin among other restaurants, says they will place a “hip modern” burger and beer eatery in the old Zin space, to have a lower price point dining option in the area.

Sigh. 

Bye Bye Bistro Zin.  You will be missed.

 Got a question via email today, asking about the Real Estate Transaction Process.  Let’s take a broad look at what actually happens - the steps a buyer and seller go through - when real estate is bought or sold, in Tucson and the State of Arizona.

Disclaimer: This is just an overview, and assumes the standard AAR Purchase Contract for Resale Real Estate is being used!  If you’re currently in an agreement to buy or sell real estate in Tucson, you should ask your agent for more specific information.

Stage One: Offers and Negotiations

A Buyer starts the transaction by writing an offer and submitting it to the Seller.  The Buyer proposes a set of terms and conditions, which may include:

• the purchase price
• the inspection period length
• the amount of earnest money
• the closing date
• if a home warranty will be provided and by whom
• which party will pay for the loan costs
• and how long the Seller has to respond to the offer.

This begins negotiations.  The Seller may accept, reject, or create a counter offer to that offer.  The Seller sends their response to the Buyer.  The Buyer has the same choices, and the negotiations continue until both parties can agree, or until one party rejects the other’s offer.  If everyone can agree, then we move to Stage Two.

Stage Two: Inspections and Appraisals

Once everyone agrees, the inspection period begins and the Buyer’s Agent opens escrow.  Escrow is just a neutral third party that, among other things, deposits and holds onto the Buyer’s earnest money. 

During the inspection period, the Buyer should hire a home and termite inspector, and should have all of their questions answered so that they are comfortable purchasing the home.  It’s the Buyer’s job to do all of the inspections, and the Seller’s job to disclose everything they know about the property.  The appraisal may also be done within the inspection period.

Once a Buyer has conducted all of their inspections, before the inspection period ends, the Buyer may decide to back out of the deal, to take the house as-is, or may write up a repair request.  This is a one-shot time to ask for repairs, and is the start of Stage Three.

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Today, I showed a few houses to a lovely couple and their two children looking to buy their first home.  As first time buyers, they need some time to look over the house and decide if the house is right or not.  There are lots of questions to be asked and answers to be given, it takes a little bit of time to tour the house right.

Except two of three houses we entered, the A/C wasn’t on.

It was hot and sweaty and not-so-fun, especially with the two little ones turning grumpy in the heat.  Heck, we were all getting edgy, standing there in those sweatboxes.  I know my buyers didn’t have a good impression of those homes.

True, they were vacant homes, so I can understand HOW that detail had been overlooked.  As an agent, part of my job is to make sure that my Sellers set their thermostats to a comfortable level, or request permission to do that myself if the house is empty.

Having the thermostat set to a comfortable level when your home is for sale is one of those little items that can make or break the sale of your house.  All the staging and home preparation in the world won’t help your house sell if it is 90 degrees inside the living room.  We know Tucson can be hot, but your real esate shouldn’t be.

Please - help me sell your home!  Turn on your A/C!

Agency law can vary widely from state to state. 

It is very important to know IF and HOW your interests are being represented!

Your potential agent is required to discuss agency with you at their first substantial meeting with you.  If your agent hasn’t mentioned how they will be representing you, get out, and fast!  Expect to see a disclosure and to sign your name to it.  Expect your agent to follow the law and to practice good real estate!

Okay, let me step off my soapbox here…

The two major ways to be represented are by a Single Agent or a Dual Agent.

Let’s start with some definitions.

An Agent:

• Is a person who represents someone else, called their client
• Must follow the client’s instructions, unless they violate law
• Has Fiduciary Duties to their client
• Must protect and promote their client’s interests
• Is obligated to deal fairly and honestly with other parties, and must disclose material defects and facts to other parties involved in a transaction 

Fiduciary Duties are:

• Confidentiality, which remains in effect for an indefinite period of time
• Accounting, which doesn’t mean I have to do your taxes.  Agents are accountable to their clients for all monies accepted in the transaction, like your earnest money.
• Reasonable Skill and Care, meaning an agent should be knowledgeable and should perform to the high standards set for the profession
• Loyalty, where a client’s interests are placed before the agent’s interests
• Obedience.  Agents have to obey their clients unless they violate the law. 
• Disclosure.  Agents must make full disclosure to their clients regarding any conflicts of interest, other offers, or material defects, that sort of thing.

There are two major ways you can be represented by a Realtor in Tucson: Single or Dual Agency.

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New Stats are out from the Tucson MLS for April 2007.  So what’s the state of Real Estate in Tucson?

Just the facts:

• Active Listings: 10,387
• Number of Sales: 1280 units.
• Average Sales price, Single Family Home: $298,876
• Median Sales price, Single Family Home: $237,000
• Average Sales price, Townhouse/Condo: $184,869
• Median Sales price, Townhouse/Condo: $167,000
• Average Days on Market: 65 days

Adding meaning to the Numbers:

Active listings are at record numbers.  People - If you don’t NEED to sell, get your house off the market.  Typical inventory levels for Tucson are between 4000-5000 listings, at least they were before the 2005 boom and the 2006 run-up in inventory. 

A good figure to look at is months of inventory, which takes into account both the number of listings AND the number of sales: at the current rate of sales, how long would it take for all of the houses to sell, if no other homes were to come on the market.

General rule of thumb is that anything around 4-6 months is a balanced market, under 4 months is Seller’s Market, and over 6 months is a Buyer’s market. 

In this chart, you can see our Seasonality: inventory drops during Summer, our peak sales time.  It looks like Tucson has been fairly balanced, until 2005 when our sales went crazy and inventory dropped.  Now, since 2006, months of inventory has climbed.  There was a small drop in March 2007, and we went back up a bit in April 2007.  It will be interesting to see if we’re going to bounce our way slowly back down to normal levels.

 Another way to consider active listings and number of sales is simple division: of the 10387 listings on the market, only 1280 sold - which is roughly 1 in 9 homes. 

Let’s restate that: One in nine homes sold last month.  More typical levels?  One in five.

Average and Median Sales prices have fluctuated fairly gently since the start of 2006.  They vary a little, month to month, but overall, no big movements are seen from January 2006 to today, in terms of Average and Median prices.  This indicates fairly flat prices.

Days on market has been dancing around in the 60s for six months now.  Since 2000, Tucson has averaged somewhere in the mid 50s for days on market.  Since we’re at 65 days for April, we’re still taking longer to sell than our traditional market would indicate.  Given that agents can restart the days on market clock by withdrawing and relisting the same house, this figure isn’t the best measure.  It’d be more interesting to see ACTUAL days on market, inclusive of past times a house has been listed and expired or been withdrawn.

Here’s my take: Inventory is still too high, but well-priced and well-marketed homes are still selling.  The number of sales took a small dip in April, but we’ve otherwise been following our yearly trend for number of sales this year.  It’s a good time to be a buyer, but understand that the best properties at the best prices will still move fast.  Sellers - either get serious about selling or get off the market.  Our market is still deciding where it will land.  If you don’t HAVE to sell, then don’t.  If you do have to sell, you’ve got to price aggressively and present the best home possible.  In this market, you can’t be lax about the housekeeping or the repairs if you want the best price.